TATVW- Chapter 5

 

Zhou Xiaohui had left after throwing the bowl and chopsticks by the well. Su Xiaoman ignored it and continued to comb her hair with the mirror. She used to braid the fake models, just like dressing up dolls and also knew a lot of styles, but she rarely braids herself.

 

    Facing the mirror, she carefully combed a long braid for herself which was suitable for this era.

 

    

  The little girl next to her had shrank in fright when Zhou Xiaohui left. Later, when she saw her little aunt combing her braids, she opened her eyes wide and stared at her without blinking.

 

    Su Xiaoman, who had completed combing her her braids, raised her head and smiled lightly in the direction of the little girl. The little girl is Xie Chunjuan, the eldest daughter of the third sister-in-law Zhou Xiaohui.  Seeing Su Xiaoman smiling at her she bowed her head shyly.

    Su Xiaoman thinks this little girl is quite cute.

 

    Xie Chunjuan had her head lowered, her chin touching her chest. She hugged the bowl and chopsticks left by her mother, and honestly started washing them by taking water from the well.

 

    Su Xiaoman was stunned.

 

    “…?”

 

    She really washed the bowl?

 

    Although the little girl is very skilled in washing dishes,she looks very reluctant. She is too small, with thin arms and legs, wearing tattered old clothes, with random knots on her hair, her hair ends were dry and yellow, and she looked malnourished.

 

    The bowl she washes in her hands is bigger than her fist.

 

    The water from the pressure well fell into the basin, splashing a lot of water, which wet Xie Chunjuan's sleeves and trouser legs.

 

    "Chunjuan, I will help you wash it." Su Xiaoman patted the girl's shoulder lightly and motioned her to take a step back. Seeing such a small child washing dishes here, if she just stood by and watched, she would be unable to get over the hurdle in her heart in the future.

 

    "Auntie, it's okay, I'll do it myself."

 

    Su Xiaoman: "...then let's wash together?"

 

    Su Xiaoman didn't want to care in the beginning, neither of the two Su Xiaoman had washed dishes in their life. When it comes to washing dishes, she might even not be as proficient as the other girl.

 

    If she accidentally breaks the bowl, she might not be scolded much, but this little girl will suffer.

 

    Xie Chunjuan nodded after hearing what she said.

 

    Su Xiaoman washed the bowl with her, chatted a few words in the middle, and finally at the end wiped off the water stains on her hands with a towel after finishing. Su Xiaoman clapped her hands, "Okay, we are done."

 

    Xie Chunjuan raised her head when she heard the words, and smiled at her brightly, revealing two rows of white teeth.

 

 

    It's an simple smile.

 

    Su Xiaoman likes her smile very much, although she is not very good-looking, but it gives a feeling of sunshine. (E/N: I guess they meant due to the malnourishment….maybe beauty refers to that?!)

 

    "Chunjuan, since we are finished, can I help you with your braids?"

 

    The little girl was watching her for a long time just now, and it is estimated that she is also wanted to be beautiful.((E/N: children have simple desires…) Now that they have formed a small friendship after washing dishes together, Su Xiaoman wanted to help her comb her hair.

 

    Xie Chunjuan nodded expectantly.

 

    "The back of your hair is a little withere. Let me cut some of it for you."

 

    Su Xiaoman first wiped her face with a towel until it was white, untied her hair and combed it neatly, simply trimmed the withered ends of her hair, took out some simple but beautiful hairbands, and combed her hair into a beautiful hairstyle suitable for little girls.

 

    Xie Chunjuan took the mirror and looked into it,she very happy.

 

    Su Xiaoman had earlier boiled two boiled eggs in a kettle, ate one by herself, and gave the other one to Xie Chunjuan. The eggs were sent by her third brother yesterday.

 

    Xie Chunjuan held the warm egg in her palm and looked up at Su Xiaoman: "Auntie, you are so nice. They were deinitely lying to children when they say you are not good."

 

    Su Xiaoman smiled and shook her head, feeling that she was the one lying to the child now.

 

    ….

 

    Zhou Xiaohui was sewing the soles of her shoes in the room, when a small figure came in quietly, without raising her eyes, she asked directly, "Have the dishes been washed?"

 

    "Mother, I washed them."

 

    At this time, Zhou Xiaohui raised her head and when she glanced at her eldest daughter, she was stunned.

 

    

 

    Erya was the youngest daughter of the second child of the Zeng family. Her parents doted on her, and she dresses up better than other little girls in the village.

 

    "Mother, it was my aunt who helped me comb my hair."

 

    "She also gave me a boiled egg, and I gave half of it to my sister."

 

    Xie Chunjuan's voice was timid, as if she was afraid that she would be angry.

 

    Zhou Xiaohui's mouth moved, but she didn't say anything after a long time.

 

    Xie's family have dinner at noon, but the men in the family didn't come back. Mother-in-law Sun Mei asked her second daughter-in-law to deliver meals to them in the field.

 

    The women in the family do the light work in the production team. They go to work in the morning, take two or three hours, then come back to work at home, and eat at home at noon.

 

    The eldest sister-in-law Qin Xiuying works the most quickly and can get five or six work points a day. The third sister-in-law, Zhou Xiaohui, is pregnant with a child and does not do much work. Just goes home and sits.

 

    "Call everyone out to eat."

 

    In fact, people in this era don't need to invite people out to eat, and when it's time for dinner, they all run over to wait for the meal.

 

    The three children of the eldest family, one from the second family, two from the third family, six children all together are sitting around the long table.

 

    The other children did not speak, but one of the boys kicked and shouted loudly: "Grandma, I am hungry, when will I eat!"

 

    "Grandson, you wait."

 

    "Grandma, I'm so hungry, I'm going to starve to death." The boy kept yelling.

 

    Sun Mei reassured her most beloved grandson next to her.

 

      The child of the second child was her favourite grandson.

 

    The second child of their family is the material of the scholar, and the child born is also smart and clever, much better than the two crooked melons and cracked dates of the eldest family. (E/N: I honestly don’t understand what this means…maybe she wants to say that the other two are not good in comparison)

 

    The other children sat silently.

 

    " Eldest daughter-in-law, why haven’t you brought out the food yet?"

 

    "Coming."

 

    Today eldest sister-in-law is the one who cooked. The food is very simple . She brought out a bowl of pickles, a large pot of green vegetables, and a pot of green vegetable soup. With a little bit of oil.

 

    Second sister-in-law Xu Yanlan also came out behind, holding a bowl of boiled eggs in her hand, she poured some soy sauce and chopped green onion on it, the smell was so strong that other children couldn't help swallowing.

 

    There is also a bowl of fried radishes in the , with a few pieces of meat in it, which is the food for the men on the mountain today.

 

    Sun Mei picked up the bowl of boiled eggs, scooped a large spoonful into the bowl, and handed it to her most beloved grandson Xie Yaozu. Xie Yaozu happily bowed his head to eat the eggs. Sun Mei said to Xu Yanlan: “ Second daughter-in-law, go to the mountain to deliver food later, walk fast on the road, don't let the food get cold."

 

    "Okay mom." Xu Yanlan responded.

 

    Sun Mei asked Xu Yanlan to bring the rest of the bowl of boiled eggs, and the bowl of fried radishes, picked out the meat inside, put it on the golden pumpkin rice, and poured it again into a big pot of vegetable soup.

 

    "No stealing on the road."

 

    Xu Yanlan smiled and joked with Sun Mei, "Mother, since I am doing things, you can be rest assured."

 

    "I don't worry about you doing things."

 

    The elder sister-in-law Qin Xiuying, who just sat down after working for a long time, lowered her head, made an inaudible "hum", and secretly slandered: "It's strange if you don't steal it."

 

    This is something the Xie family knows well.

 

    The privilege of the second family.

 

    Xu Yanlan picked up the food in her hand, looked up and down at Su Xiaoman not far away, and lengthened her tone strangely, "Oh, some people are finally willing to come out to eat."

 

    Su Xiaoman ignored her, Xu Yanlan didn’t feel she made fun of herself, gave her a proud look, and left.

 

    Because she is the daughter-in-law most favored by her mother-in-law , she has always regarded herself very highly in front of other sisters-in-law, and likes to use Sun Mei to suppress Qin Xiuying and Zhou Xiaohui.

 

    She likes to show the difference between herself and her son in front of Qin Xiuying and Zhou Xiaohui. Seeing their shriveled appearance makes her feel very superior.

 

    Now Qin Xiuying and Zhou Xiaohui no longer dare to compete with her for status, although they live a comfortable life, they are afraid of her since they knew how high her position was in the Xie family.

 

    Su Xiaoman sat and didn't say much. When a few children swallowed their saliva and didn't look at the broken eggs, they rather looked at her face.

 

     The new little aunt in the family is good-looking, the smell of broken eggs is too fragrant and tempting, but they can't eat it, so they can only watch the beautiful aunt to divert their attention.

 

    Good-looking people are always pleasing to the eye.

 

    Su Xiaoman's eyes swept over several children, the eldest family has two boys, and a daughter, the eldest boy Tie Dan, was dark and thin, with a blue-black birthmark on his face, which is a little scary. The younger brother, Heidan, has a long face and snot on his nose. The other sister, Xiaohua, has black hands, and she came to eat without washing her hands.

 

    The third family has two daughters, Xie Chunjuan smiled at Su Xiaoman, took her sister Xia Juan's hand. The two or three-year-old sister reached out to pull her sister's hair.

 

    These children are all skinny, wearing tattered clothes, even mould was growing out of it if you look carefully.

 

    Only the second child, Xie Yaozu, was wearing new looking clothes, the most prominent among the children, with a soy sauce stains on his mouth.

 

    Su Xiaoman thought that this Sun Mei was really weird.

 

    Aren't the others her grandchildren?

 

    Su Xiaoman scooped a spoonful of "pumpkin rice", lowered his head and took a bite, his face changed immediately, and  wanted to spit it out the next second.

 

    She had never imagined that pumpkin could be cooked so badly, half of it tasted bitter, and half of it was mushy, which was really unappetizing.

 

    Sister-in-law Xie's cooking skills are very poor.

 

    Seeing that the other people didn't say anything, it might be normal.

 

   As Su Xiaoman tasted the other dishes, her face became more worse , and finally she only took a piece of spicy chilli from the pickle plate, it was red on the outside and was probably the only appetizing dish on the table.

 

 

    Sun Mei was warning her three daughter in laws while eating.

 

    The third sister-in-law Zhou Xiaohui's lips moved, but she did not speak, but at this time, the elder sister-in-law Qin Xiuying pointed at Su Xiaoman and complained: "I saw Su Xiaoman eating boiled eggs in the morning. What if those eggs are stolen from home, she must take them out."

 

    Sun Mei immediately glared at Su Xiaoman.

 

    Su Xiaoman reluctantly swallowed two mouthfuls of rice: "I haven't seen where the chicken coop is. The eggs I ate in the morning were sent by my brother."

 

    Sun Mei also knew that it was unlikely that Su Xiaoman took it. She glanced at Zhou Xiaohui and then looked at Su Xiaoman. She had wanted to scold Su Xiaoman for a long time, and said: "Since your brother sent them here, it should be my Xie family's stuff. It should be handed over to the me, you can't eat it secretly. Didn’t your mother teach you how to be a daughter-in-law?"

 

 

    Su Xiaoman: "Then why didn't the second sister-in-law give it to us? Let everyone eat together."

 

    “Giving and receiving should be done equally. My mother's family gave me something, and my husband's family should also give me something to send back to my mother's house."

 

    What Su Xiaoman said was tit for tat. Seeing this the eldest sister-in-law and the third sister-in-law sitting on the side lowered their heads, and smiled looking forward to watch the show.

 

    "You- you… can you compare with your second sister-in-law?Look how hardworking she is, you are just sitting here eating free food, and she is working hard to deliver meals to men in the fields."

 

    When Sun Mei said this, the eldest sister-in-law and the third sister-in-law were uncomfortable. It was obvious that the two of them were doing the work at home. But she only praised second sister-in-law.

 

    "Well, then I'll deliver food tomorrow." Su Xiaoman said amused "Second sister-in-law is so hardworking, I as the new daughter-in-law should learn from her."

 

    Sun Mei was furious: "What nonsense are you talking about!"

 

    "Eldest Sister-in-law, Third sister-in-law , it’s decided, we are all the daughters-in-law of the family, we should take turns to deliver meals, how can we be lazy at home."

 

    "How about this?"

 

    Sun Mei was annoyed when she heard this question, and mocked: "Take turns? How many people do you think are willing to go, the eldest daughter-in-law, the third daughter-in-law, do you want to take turns to go? ?"

 

    The eldest family and the third family never dared to disobey her.

 

    Su Xiaoman really thought that others would listen to her, funny.

 

    The eldest daughter-in-law Qin Xiuying opened her mouth, but said nothing.

 

    At this time, Zhou Xiaohui's mind suddenly came to the picture she saw a few days ago, Sun Mei would give Xie Yaozu an egg every one or two days, sometimes two, Xie Yaozu didn't like to eat egg yolks very much , he had eaten an egg that day, and after eating the egg white he played with the yolk under his feet.

 

    Her little daughter Xia Juan was going to pick it up but was pushed by Xie Yaozu...

 

    Zhou Xiaohui opened her eyes, looked at Chunjuan and Xiajuan, and said firmly, "Go, we will take turns in the future."

 

    Sun Mei was stunned.

 

    Eldest sister-in-law was also stunned.

****

HEY THERE! We made it to the 5th chapter!!

Thank you for all the reads it has got so far and also those comments (I understand the problem with all the info dump😂 , they take up all my brain cells too LOL)!

Hope you will keep supporting the novel ! And please bear with me for a while coz I know I don't edit certain phrases at times as I am not that skilled !I am sorry for the inconvenience.

If  you ever find anything wrong, you are free to correct me, it will also help the next reader.!

Your thoughts are welcome🙃

-Fluffy

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